-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A lone saxophonist plays in the shadow of an overpass while a horde of cyclists looks down at a set of tangled train tracks .

This outwardly gloomy spot is as good a place as any to begin a cycling tour of the `` Berlin Wall Trail , '' a 160-kilometer -LRB- 99-mile -RRB- path developed to commemorate and transform one of the darkest chapters of the city 's past .

Once a popular location for defectors because East German trains cut through a corner of the Western zone , it was here on November 9 , 1989 , that tens of thousands of people overwhelmed an official checkpoint after a bureaucratic error led to the opening of the border .

Divided by mapmakers into 14 sections that vary from seven to 21 miles in length , the Wall Trail , or `` Mauerweg , '' traces the entire path of the Wall .

Built in 1961 , the Wall divided the city by surrounding West Berlin , for decades following the partitioning of Germany after World War II an island of freedom behind the Iron Curtain .

` Culture , politics and nature '

The Wall Trail is a unique combination of tourist attraction and recreational zone , says Michael Cramer , the Green Party politician and cycling enthusiast who conceived the plan in the early 1990s and is now working on a Europe-spanning Iron Curtain Trail , inspired by the Wall route 's success .

`` It 's a ride through history , culture , politics and nature , '' he says .

That feeling hits home as I pedal across the Mauerpark to the Wall memorial on Bernauer Strasse , where a watchtower and a section of the barren `` death strip '' have been preserved unchanged .

While Cramer 's scheme might seem an obvious venture now , it was n't easy in the beginning .

Berliners hated the Wall so much that many people wanted every trace of it obliterated .

In 1989 and 1990 , souvenir hunters were carting it away so fast that the government had to shift from demolition to conservation practically overnight .

With experts forecasting an unprecedented population boom , real estate developers were eying the former `` death strip '' as keenly as East Germany 's notorious Stasi security agents ever had .

`` At that time , all the politicians and the media said , ` No , no , we want to erase the Wall , ' '' Cramer says . `` But 10 years later , in 2000 , we were successful . ''

Completed in 2009 at a cost of some 10 million euros -LRB- $ 13.4 million -RRB- , today the trail appeals to all types of cyclists .

Bike-friendly public transport

Every section is accessible by Berlin 's bike-friendly public transportation system , so cyclists can pick and choose from various sights and terrain .

It 's flat and paved , so it does n't take an athlete 's fitness to hack it , and an ordinary city bike or single-gear , hipster 's `` fixie '' serves as well as something fancier .

Better still , even though it attracts thousands of visitors every year , it never gets crowded , says Martin `` Wollo '' Wollenberg , who heads a tour company called Berlin-on-Bike .

`` As you experience the Wall zig-zagging through the city , you get a feeling for the separation , '' Wollenberg says . `` In a lot of places , the difference between East and West is still quite vivid . ''

For tourists new to Berlin , about 25 miles of the trail runs through the heart of the city .

Passing not only the Bernauer Strasse documentation center but also the Reichstag , Brandenburger Gate , Checkpoint Charlie and many other important historical sites , it makes an excellent route for a leisurely four-hour guided tour .

Meanwhile , for more committed cyclists , in former western districts such as Kladow and Wannsee , the path doubles as a nature trail , cutting through forests .

Regular rows of plantation pines make the former death strip easy to identify .

At 29 different sites along the path , memorial placards tell the stories of some of the nearly 250 `` victims of the Wall , '' such as Peter Bohme , a 19-year-old cadet in East Germany 's National People 's Army who was shot trying to escape to West Berlin in 1962 .

Signposts at regular intervals make it well nigh impossible to get lost , and every section has something to spark the traveler 's interest -- the bridge where captured spies were exchanged , a former watchtower now used by the forest brigade or the famous Church of Our Savior whose walls once formed part of the fortifications .

Riders are never more than a mile or two from the nearest beer garden .

How to ride the wall

For do-it-yourselfers , bicycle rental runs about $ 10 per day , with outlets ubiquitous throughout the city .

Visit Berlin offers free pamphlets with complete maps of the 14 sections of the trail and brief descriptions -- though only the German version was available when I visited . The same material is available online .

Cramer 's `` Berlin Wall Trail : Cycling Guide '' can be picked up for about $ 10 online or at the souvenir shop at the Berlin Wall Documentation Centre on Bernauer Strasse .

Berlin on Bike 's `` Wall Tour '' covers 15 kilometers of the Wall Trail in about four hours . The company 's English - and German-speaking guides provide information about the building and destruction of the Wall and life in East Germany .

At $ 14 plus $ 5 for bicycle rental , it 's worth considering even for those planning to do the rest of trail solo .

An award-winning journalist and travel writer , Jason Overdorf 's byline has appeared in The Washington Post and The Atlantic . He 's also the Berlin correspondent for GlobalPost .

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The Berlin Wall Trail runs for 99 miles along the frontier that once divided the city

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Completed in 2009 at a cost of $ 13.4 million dollars , the trail attracts all types of cyclists

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All 14 sections of the trail are connected by public transportation

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Numerous beer gardens lie close to the route